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Kurama was aware of his popularity. It was difficult not to be when he found a number of things in his footlocker, waiting for him at his desk, and the sheer number of eyes that seemed to follow him around school. Though he hadn’t entirely grown out of the vanity that he had during his days as a thief, wanted by many and hated by more, the attention was stifling when having to keep up appearances. The polite smile and gentle tone of voice were easy masks for him to slip into although he had to admit that keeping up the rouse had grown tiresome over the years.
With the breaks provided by Yuusuke’s need for his help with cases, Kuwabara barging onto the school grounds with the insistence that they hang out, and the occasional visits of a fire demon who let himself in and left without warning — he found himself able to breathe easier. That is until the humans around him started growing bolder. It started with one letter, a white envelope with a red heart seal that he found in his footlocker. He thought to read it, reply to the poor soul, but there was no name addressed.
Just the simple signature of ‘Forever Yours’ and he huffed a laugh. These teenagers wouldn’t know what forever was like but their rudimentary grasp of the concept was harmless and even a little cute to him. Without a name to reply to, he discarded the letter once he knew he was alone and let the matter come to a rest.
Or so he thought.
The next day, another letter was handed to him by a female classmate who said that she found it with his name written on the seal of the envelope. It was the same as the one he discarded previously, white with a red heart as the seal. Yet again, there was no name addressed. Just another endearment and another fruitless endeavor. The process continued for the next few days, letters appearing in his locker or around campus, being delivered to him then discarded when he was on his own. He’d thought to ask someone about it.
Who exactly was handing them these letters?
Where were they even coming from and who took the time to write this many?
Part of him wanted to read them to glean some clue of the sender but it was hopeless. Even if he knew who they were, returning their sentiment would’ve been impossible, and so the cycle continued. On one such day as he tore the letter to pieces and discarded it in the wastebin by his desk, the window slid open and a warm autumn breeze swept through the room and with it, a young man dressed in a dark cloak with a white scarf tucked around his neck came through. With a sweeping gaze over his back, Kurama couldn’t find any superficial wounds and from his curious gaze, Hiei wasn’t there for advice either.
“Is something wrong?” Kurama asked, closing the book he’d been trying and failing to read.
Hiei tilted his head, likely listening out for the sound of Shiori’s presence on the upper floor of the home, then shook his head in response. “I’m going to stay with Yukina for awhile,” he said, crossing the distance to Kurama’s desk and taking a seat on its surface.
Despite his nonchalance, the warmth radiating from him bespoke happiness that Kurama knew Hiei wouldn’t say aloud.
“The Reikai is giving you leave?” He asks, quietly reminding the fire demon of their obligation to assist Yuusuke and their conditions of parole.
“Yes,” Hiei muttered, wrinkling his nose in distaste as he leant back. His back pressed against the shelf of books on Kurama’s desk and the fox thought to ask whether he was uncomfortable. However, he seemed more perturbed with the idea of his restrictions and Kurama thought it best to leave him to his thoughts.
Though he was curious on why the fire demon had taken the time to tell him about this. Although he remained insistent on not telling Yukina of his identity, he was ever at her side and on the occasion that Kurama could take a trip to see the Ice Maiden, she would always comment on one of her recent meetings with Hiei or show him something that the fire demon had brought to her from the Makai. Insistent as he was to keep his secret, Hiei’s love for his sister was only for her and ( indirectly ) Kurama to know.
“Well, I hope that you have fun,” Kurama said, propping his elbow up and resting his chin in his hand.
Crimson eyes flicked to him, observing him intently, and he tilted his head.
“Something wrong?”
Hiei looked away, shaking his head. “No,” he muttered, hopping off the desk, and with a gentle rap of his knuckles against the top of Kurama’s textbook he turned to leave. “Try not to work yourself too hard, fox.”
“This is child’s play, Hiei,” Kurama teased, his gaze lingering on the fire demon’s back as he walked to the window, opening it without looking back. “You have nothing to worry over.”
“I’ll worry about you as much as I like,” Hiei said, sparing a glance over his shoulder before he hopped onto the window sill then disappeared from sight.
The corner of Kurama’s lips twitched and he felt the subtle tug, allowing his smile to show as he tucked his mouth against his palm, trying to quell the growing smile. Pushing his book aside, he buried his head in his arms and chuckled warmly, grinning like a fool. Going back to his homework, he balled up a piece of paper and went to throw it in the waste bin when he noticed the red sticker torn in half. Sweet as the gesture was, this person’s efforts would bear no fruit.
Not so long as Hiei drew breath and even thereafter.
Kurama sighed and pulled a fresh piece of paper and an envelope from his belongings. Matching the tone of the letter was impossible as he hadn’t read it but he’d grown adept at writing a polite refusal to his admirers. Satisfied with it and sealing it, he put it in his school bag and returned to his work.
The next day came and he left a seed charged with his yoki in his footlocker as added surveillance for whomever may have been coming by. Throughout the day, he checked in on the seed and found that there was no presence near his footlocker. He wondered if they’d given up as the day after that and the day after that yielded no sign of his admirer. Losing interest in the chase, his mind wandered to productive means and anticipation for Hiei’s return to the city. He wondered what the fire demon had brought for his sister, how close would they become, and whether or not Hiei was happy today as well.
It was a rare thing to see the fire demon’s smile, genuine and fleeting as it was, a sight to behold that never failed to put a smile on his face. And on such a day as he thought about Hiei’s smile, a loud thump jerked him from his thoughts and his attention fell to the stack of letters on his desk. With an amused smile, Kaito Yu stood at his desk and pushed his glasses up on his nose before tucking his hands behind his back.
“You’re quite popular, Minamino,” the psychic said with an even tone bellying the amusement in his eyes.
Kurama narrowed his eyes at him before picking up the hefty stack, the letters bound together with a blood red silk ribbon, an appealing contrast to the stark white of the envelopes. Envelopes with a red heart as the seal.
“And from where did you procure these, Kaito?” He asked, glancing up at his classmate.
The psychic pushed up his glasses with a finger then looked over his shoulder. Despite the other students being engrossed in their conversation, the hushed voices bespoke of listening ears all around them. The tension in the air was palpable and while Kurama was feeling budding annoyance, Kaito seemed amused.
“I’m afraid your secret admirer would prefer to remain nameless,” he said, not sounding apologetic in the slightest. “Though they asked for a swift reply upon you reading the letters.”
Kurama set the stack down and bridged his fingers, resting his forehead on them. The situation that he thought was handled seemed to be everything but. And with everyone listening and likely sneaking glances to see if he would either read or discard, he knew he had to keep up appearances. Undoing the ribbon, his smile was thin and to all others who didn’t know him or what he was , it might’ve seemed kind.
“How kind of you."
Kaito nodded, turning away and leaving the class with a considerable amount of haste. Kurama narrowed his eyes at his back then turned back to the letters. Deciding to put them inside of his bag, he decided that he would end this once and for all once they were all disposed of. With this many, he’d have to take it somewhere that his classmates and their wandering eyes wouldn’t find him.
Shouldering his bag as he left the school grounds, waving off the offers to walk home together and hang out around the city, he took the scenic route to one of the parks further to the edges of the city limits. Surrounded by nature, he was able to breathe easier though the hefty weight of the letters in his bag was an annoying reminder. He wandered through the woodlands, smiling as the grass shifted with every step he took, flowers turning to face him and vines reaching out for him as he passed by. Finding a clearing, he looked around to ensure that no one else was there before opening his bag and turning it upside down. With a few shakes, the letters came pouring out one after another, making a pile at his feet.
Each one of them, white with a red heart as the seal, stacked upon one another and lessened the weight lingering on his shoulders. His ears pricked at the sound of shifting leaves and he lifted his head, turning to look over his shoulder. His eyes widened at the sight of Hiei standing there with his hands in the pockets of his cloak, eyes narrowed and brows furrowed. Holding his bag upside down, the stack of letters to his right and the fire demon to his left, he wasn’t sure what to make of this situation.
The silence continued for a moment, neither of them moving or saying a word.
“Don’t you think it’s cruel to just throw them away like that?” Hiei says, deadpan, and it’s difficult to gauge the emotion in his voice.
Something akin to hope stirred in Kurama’s chest though for what , he wasn’t very sure. The fire demon never seemed itnerested in his life before or the popularity that he’d procured with his classmates. In fact, he always seemed to think that Kurama was wasting his time at a human school and it was a subject they couldn’t see eye to eye on.
“...Why do you even care?” Kurama asked, looking from the stack to the demon in question. “It’s not like you wrote them…”
Hiei snarled, his pupils dilating as he scowled. “I did , you bastard.”
Kurama stared at him. A beat passed, and the belated thought that Hiei looked adorable when he was glaring at him like that passed through his mind. The second thought being that the fire demon insinuated that he wrote these letters. The third being that the stack of letters appeared in the same time frame as Hiei’s return.
“You what ?” Kurama shouted, dropping his backpack in his surprise, feeling the heat rise to his face.
Hiei’s eyes widened and his tanned skin flushed dark red as he looked down, muttering under his breath, “Shit.”
Kurama looked from him to the stack of letters then back. “You wrote all of these?” He asked, taking a step toward Hiei and the fire demon folded his arms across his chest, looking away from him. “When?”
Hiei’s lips pressed together and he clenched his upper arms, looking even more embarrassed as Kurama took another step forward.
“H—”
“Did you not read any of them?”
Guilt hit Kurama like a tidal wave. He thought back to the letters that he tore up, the ones he laughed at for the sentiment of ‘forever’, but the idea that it was Hiei offering him forever . His face must have betrayed them as the fire demon huffed and turned away from him.
“Unbelievable,” he grumbled, and the hurt in his voice was enough to give Kurama pause, reaching for him in an attempt to soothe.
“Hiei…”
The fire demon turned towards him sharply and Kurama pulled his hand back, unsure of how to take the intense glare. He hoped that Hiei would yell at him, say something scathing, then talk to him about this feeling that he was having. Of course, he deserved it for not taking his attempts seriously but how could he have known what was in those letters?
Instead, another envelope was thrust in his face.
“Read.”
Kurama,
The number of letters that I left you before was a lot. I would say that I was sorry for it but I’m not. I know that you might be wondering why I’ve been sending these to you or leaving them would be the better term. I have a lot on my mind almost constantly and much of it has to deal with you. I know that if I see you, I’ll forget what I was going to say, only to remember it later and feel like an idiot for not telling you then. I hope that you’re not overworking yourself today too. You seem tired lately, and not only from dealing with the Reikai’s mess or the detective and the oaf. You just seem tired and — ( a scribbled out word that Kurama couldn’t quite make out, but he know that it began with a u and ended wih ‘ppy’, ).
I know that you have difficulties talking with some of the people around you because they don’t know you. The real you. Aside from Shuuichi Minamino, the other part of yourself that you keep hidden away, that is..
So I thought that if you were feeling down, you could look at these letters and remember that — ( another scribbled out phrase, he makes out the letter I but the rest is hidden by scratches of dark ink ) someone cares.
Forever yours,
Hiei
Looking up from the letter, Kurama smiled as he met Hiei’s unflinching gaze. “And you say you don’t have a way with words.”
The heat in his gaze lessened and he huffed, folding his arms and glancing away. “Sometimes, it’s easier to talk to you when you’re not looking at me.”
“So you can’t think when I’m looking at you?” Kurama asked, putting his hands behind his back as he leant down, a thrill running through him at the way Hiei’s ears darkened in color at the question.
Hiei huffed, squeezing his upper arms and tilting his head up to meet Kurama’s eyes. “ Don’t try to charm me, fox,” he spat, and despite the harshness of the words, there was a hurt that reminded Kurama of the situation at hand. “You didn’t read any of them.”
“If I knew they were from you, I would have read all of them,” Kurama assured, folding the letter and putting it back into its envelope before reaching out to cup Hiei’s shoulder. “Though if you wanted, in addition to writing letters, you could talk to me.”
Lifting the letter, the fire demon looked at it then back at him and Kurama smiled.
“This is nice ,” he insisted, lowering it as he leant closer, hope blossoming in his chest when Hiei didn’t pull away. “But I’d like to hear it from you.”
With their faces centimeters away from each other, they practically shared a breath and it took a considerable amount of willpower not to close the distance between them. Hiei’s eyes searched Kurama’s face for something but his gaze lingered on the fox’s lips to his delight.
“What did I say about trying to charm me?” he asked, dazed and voice thick with emotion.
Kurama tried not to smile. “I’m not trying, if you feel charmed , perhaps it’s because of your own feelings,” he pointed out, brushing their lips together and the fire demon leant into his touch, his heartbeat quickening. “What could they be, I wonder…”
“Read the letters and find out.”
In the blink of an eye, Hiei was gone and the only evidence that he’d been there was the letter in the fox’s hand and the pile that laid undisturbed behind him. Kurama blinked slowly and brought his fingers to his lips feeling the tingle and warmth left from what had almost been. Covering his mouth as he grinned, he turned to face the pile of letters with bright eyes.
He had reading to do.